We took our first real vacation as a family recently. Hopefully I haven't waited too long to blog about it and I am able to remember the details.

Friday (8/7) we drove to just outside of Atlanta and stayed with my Aunt Pam, Ginger and Emma. We got there later than we planned but that didn't stop the girls from playing well into the night. They woke up early and did some serious playing!

Trampoline in costumes

results of their fun

Saturday (8/8) after the girls got done having fun, we loaded back up and headed to North Carolina. We were told get there before dark because you don't want to drive up the mountain in the dark. Good thing we know how to follow directions! We definitely didn't want to drive those crazy roads in the dark. this is what we drove up to

We got settled and joined the Kissel's at the fire. Such an amazing view!

Sunday (8/9) we went canoeing. It was Madelyn's first time canoeing. She ditched Wes and I and rode in the boat with Jo Ann and Katie. No one tipped, so that is a plus.

Monday (8/10) we went for a hike and I can't remember what else. I consulted Jo Ann and she thinks it is the day it rained and we had a jungle party in the basement hosted by MK and Katie. After consulting facebook, we also went gem mining that day.

There was an intense game of Wits and Wagers where Jo Ann and I were on the same team. We lost, but I think the girls team had less points than us.

Tuesday (8/11) we hiked near the cabin over to a Christmas tree farm. We stopped along the way at a porch area. Jo Ann said that the people that own the land have a daughter that recently got married. They didn't have time to build a house, so they just built the porch. It was an amazing view! Later in the day we went horseback riding. We requested that they have someone lead MK and Katie. We all get on our horses and Katie and her lead head out. My horse falls in line with no instructions and we get ahead of the group. I later found out that Wes' horse kept stopping to eat. The person leading MK's horse had to help Wes. She asked Wes if it was okay to let MK try it on her own. He said yes and she rode alone most of the trail. We rode about an hour through a different Christmas tree farm. We went through a creek and back through the trees.

Photo bomb. This is one of my favorite pictures of the trip.

the kids playing Marco Polo in the trees

MK riding alone

Wednesday (8/12) we went white water rafting. It was several hours away. To break the trip up, we stopped at Linville Caverns. It was a fun side trip. We saw caverns that were over a hundred years old. According to the guide, they are on a fault line and you could see the plates overlapping. White water rafting was a blast. We had to split into two boats because we had 7 people and only 6 were allowed per boat. We rafted the French Broad River. It was level 3 and 4 rapids. We bought the CD of pictures at the end, but they didn't put our pictures on it. supposedly they are mailing us our pictures. I was able to steal screen shots from their website but they are very poor quality.

Wes and MK on row 2 and I am on row 3 behind Wes

Linville Cavern. Wes took a lot of pictures of the caverns

Thursday (8/13) we went to Stone Mountain. You can actually see it from the Kissel's cabin. We played golf first. It was Madelyn's first time playing. She did okay for her first time golfing. I really liked golfing in the mountains. it was so different from the flat golfing in Florida. I'm not very good at golf and until Stone Mountain had only played 2 courses. We played the back 9. After the girls teed of on 17, I went to get ready and had to wait for a momma dear and her two fawns to pass through. After golf, we headed to Stone Mountain State Park for a short hike to the stone. To cool off after our hike we went to another waterfall. This one was different than the 1st one we saw because you could slide down the waterfall. The kids had a blast. Ryan and Katie have learned over the years that you go faster when you wear a trash bag. Another part of the fall has a small cave behind it. The kids walked over to it and climbed in. About the time we got there, a giant cloud came and covered the sky. they water was already cold, so it became freezing. I decided my feet were enough to get wet. Wes did explore and slide down the waterfall.

MK's first time teeing off

The girls having fun on Stone Mountain

Other random pictures that I don't know what day they came from

We had fires most nights. Ryan roasted a banana one night. We had s'mores too

Friday (8/14) we headed home. While we were gone, my Brother and SIL welcomed this sweet girl into the world. My Mom and aunt drove down to meet her and hang out. Saturday and Sunday we hung out with family.